My husband and I are trying to finanlize our Rome plans for January. One thing we'd like to consider is a personal walking tour of certain parts of Rome; mainly the hills and the forum. Can you all recommend anyone?

no ideas?

Have you considered Context Rome? They offer small group (6 people) or private itineraries in ROme, Naples and Florence. Check out contextrome.com.

I used two services last month and both were fantastic. teach2travel already gave you the link to Context Rome; here's the link to Anno Domini Organization
http://www.anno-domini.us/index.htm

You can check this out:

www.astheromansdo.com

Sandi: When will you be in Rome? Two of us will be there the 6th through the 13th and might be interested in sharing a private tour with you.

My group of 6 used www.romaround.it in October. I think we paid a total of 240-260 Euro for 3.5 hours. Sandra with Romaround handled the booking, and Mauro Scarpati was our guide. They have a few different tours you can choose from, and if I'm not mistaken, you can do a custom one.

All six of us, without a doubt, felt that it was the best money we spent on the trip, and wouldn't hesitate to use them again. We wished we had more time in Rome so that we could have booked another tour with Mauro, he was pleasant, funny, and very knowledgable.

Happy Travels

ekscrunchy

We will arrive Jan 10 and leave for Bologna on the 17th. That could be really interesting!!

Sandi -- We hired Francesca Caruso. She was fantastic! She will adapt a tour to whatever you wish to see. She is very passionate about her city, speaks flawless English and is very informative about the history and culture. I believe her rate was 40 euro/hour (last year), and it was money well spent. Her e-mail is [email protected]. Send her an e-mail with an idea of what you want to see and when you're available. Rick Steves uses her for his tours in Rome.

Will do, Jill...thanks!

I've never used this company but I have read great reviews about her over the years.

If I ever book a private tour it will be with Daniella Hunt.

Her bio is on the homepage
www.rome-tours.com/guide.shtml
Regards, Walter

Walter, I am wondering who would get the most out of that tour-- you or the guide?

Sandi, with our schedules, we might be able to share a tour on Wednesday (depending on your arrival time), Thursday or Friday. I am very interested...we never went through the forum with a guide and felt that we missed so much doing it on our own with a guidebook.

Well I am pretty nerdy on the Roman Forum but in her bio she worked for Rome's Archaeology Department in the Forum.

So I'm sure she would have alot of odd tidbits of info and be able to answer alot of my off-the-wall questions .
Regards, Walter

I have sent 3 different emails from the links on this thread and will let you all know what happens.

Sandi please keep us posted and let me know if you decide to share the tour....

Even if you decide not to use him for a private tour, I would suggest that those of you planning a visit to Rome read Alan Epstein's book, "As The Romans Do" about an American family living in Rome. He has a good sense of humor and the book offers lots of insight good for visitors to the city, as well as anecdotes about his life there. I have not taken any tours with him, though, mainly due to the high price of private tours.

www.astheromansdo.com

I will ek. I sent him an email about his services.

EK- since we might be sharing a tour, maybe I could get your email address? I don't mind publishing mine here then you can email me privately?

Sandi, that would be lovely. I will then send you mine and we can correspond about the tour.

Did you ever get the Aperol? It is widely available here in NYC now. (I hope I am not confusing you with another poster so forgive me if I am...)

Sandi,
We were in Rome this past September for the first time and used Daniella Hunt of Mirabilia Urbis Tours -
www.rome-tours.com (mentioned by Walter).We spent a little over 4 hours with her, touring the Forum and Colosseum. She was wonderful! Very knowledgeable, warm, funny, passionate about Rome. Would highly recommend her.

Have a great trip. Wish we were returning there!

ekscrunchy-

my email is [email protected]

I'll give you the info I have rec'd so far about guides once you email me.

sandi